Squaresville: Tag, You're It
by paperscout
Summary: Squaresville. Zelda always did the right thing. Even if Esther was wrong. Post-season one finale.


_A/N: Quick drabble written for the immediate call for Squaresville fan fic over on tumblr. Post-season one finale._

* * *

She was the last one to leave Physics Club after school that day. She liked walking the halls when there was no one else there. Nothing interesting ever happened, but she always figured it was more likely something would when the universe didn't expect anyone to be there to witness it. Zelda was always looking for an adventure.

It wasn't a conscious decision to walk by Esther's locker. Just habit. Even when they didn't leave school at the same time, sometimes they'd leave notes in their own lockers for the other person. Zelda didn't really know why they did it that way, instead of slipping notes through the vents of the other's locker, the way all the other kids did, but it had always been that way. Something about unlocking a place that belonged to your best friend and finding something specifically meant for you, and only you. Maybe. Something like that. Who knew anymore.

She hadn't been planning on stopping, knowing that if Esther ever intended to talk to her again, and she wasn't convinced she did, it wouldn't be through silly notes. But a glaring overlay of shiny red paint stopped her in her tracks.

Someone had painted a series of Xs over one spot of the metal wall. Meaningless, and stupid, but still, somebody had gone out of their way to tag this one specific locker. Esther's locker.

Zelda had a pretty good guess as to who it was.

She'd told Wayne about her and Esther's fight. Not in detail, just that they weren't exactly talking. He said she was better off. That if Esther didn't care about Zelda's happiness, they shouldn't be friends anyway. And besides, she had him now. Zelda knew the part about Esther wasn't true, and that it didn't even make sense, but she didn't say anything else. He meant well. She knew he was just trying to make her feel better.

Just like she was sure this was just his way of trying to help. Not that it did.

Zelda dropped her backpack onto the ground and reached out to tentatively touch the paint with her fingers. Still wet. Good. That would be easier to get off.

She walked over to the water fountain nearby, sliding her hoodie over her head as she went. She drenched the garment the best she could, letting it soak up the water like a sponge, and trudged back to the place she had so often met Esther in between classes and after school.

The paint proved a little more difficult to scrub off than she'd expected. But she scrubbed. And she scrubbed. The red paint stood out in sharp contrast against the black hoodie, but when one portion of fabric filled up, she just inched over to another part. It had to be done. And if she didn't, now, who else would?

"What are you doing?" Zelda jumped at the voice. She'd been so intent on scrubbing the locker clean that she didn't hear Shelly walk up behind her. She wanted to get this whole thing taken care of before anyone saw her and accused her of being the one who tagged it to begin with. Or worse, told Esther she was the one who'd cleaned it up.

She turned her attention back to her work. "Nothing. I'm part of a new school-wide initiative to clean up graffiti on campus. Don't worry about it. And don't tell anyone. It's…kind of a secret thing."

"Like an undercover mission?" Shelly inquired. Zelda tried not to roll her eyes. She usually had more patience for this girl, but right now, her energy was focused on other things.

"Um, yeah. Something like that. I guess."

"Cleaning paint off a locker seems pretty boring compared to all the undercover missions in movies. Usually they're shooting people or kidnapping children or at least like, stealing diamonds or whatever."

Zelda didn't respond. Maybe if she stopped talking, Shelly would go away. She was so close to being finished. Then she'd high-tail it out of there and back home before anyone else came along.

"Hey, isn't that Esther's locker?"

Busted.

"Oh, is it? I didn't even…."

"I thought you and Esther weren't friends anymore."

Zelda couldn't decide which brought on the sudden pounding in her temple — Shelly's relentless smacking of gum as she spit out those words without a second thought, or the harsh truth behind the words themselves. She quickly reassured herself it was the former. God, that girl needed to learn how to chew quietly.

"We're not."

"Oh. Cool. She's weird."

_Almost done. You're almost done._ She kept repeating it in her head, feeling Shelly's eyes dwelling uncomfortably on her face, almost as if waiting for some sort of reaction.

"Ew. What's this ugly ring doing here?" Shelly bent over and picked something up off the ground.

Zelda looked over to the other girl's open palm. She knew that ring. It was Esther's. Well, it had been Zelda's first. She'd won it from one of those silly arcade games where you get whatever prize the light lands on when you slam down on the button. But it had been Esther's birthday, so she gave her everything she won that day. Which, really, had only been the ring and a demented looking stuffed giraffe. Ozzy had set the giraffe on fire in some bizarre experiment with his dumbass friends a month later, but Esther had always held onto the ring.

She snatched it out of Shelly's hand.

"Hey! What are you—"

"It's Esther's. I'll just…put it back in her locker." Zelda grabbed onto the lock and easily dialed the combination she'd entered by memory so many times. The locker door banged against the other metal as she swung it open. She immediately reached for the shelf inside and set the ring carefully at the front, where she knew Esther couldn't miss it.

She reached for the door, to close it back up, but a piece of paper at the bottom of the locker caught her eye. Folded messily, as if it had been opened and folded back up again and again, half covered by a stack of textbooks, definitely not meant for anyone to find.

_Z._

Zelda blinked, the cool metal of the locker door in her hand. Ready to close. But the paper…. it was just right there…. and who knew….

"So if you guys aren't friends anymore, then why are you—" Shelly interrupted her trance.

The locker clanged shut before Zelda even realized she'd moved.

"Oh, hey, look! All done! It's in the secret handbook that we only have to clean up one piece of graffiti per day, and I am totally wiped, so I'm heading home now."

"But—"

"See ya!" Zelda shoved the ruined hoodie into her backpack and swung it up over her shoulder. Without even pausing for a response, she booked it towards the main doors of the school. Part of her registered Shelly yelling at her to wait up, but she kept walking until she was past the entrance and outside, where no one could see her anywhere near the locker and put two and two together.

It wasn't that she was secretly admitting Esther had been right, that she was too caught up in Wayne to pay attention to her friend. It wasn't that she was trying to make up for anything. She was just…being a good person. That's what she did. Just like with Wayne. She was trying to see the best in people. And she was trying to do what's right.

If Esther couldn't deal with that, it wasn't Zelda's fault.

And if Esther had something to say to Zelda, she could say it to her face. She could apologize in person, not through a note. And surely, that's what had been on that silly piece of paper anyway. An apology.

After all, Zelda knew she was always right.


End file.
